What were the roles of different members of society such as; knights, vassals, lords, serfs, and merchants?

Question

thank you

Answer 1

The knights were granted land by their lords, and were served by their vassals. The serfs were basically like peasant farmers that were given fiefs and they lived on the land they were granted. The merchants just sold things. Hope that helps.

Answer 2

Contrary to neat definition, they were often more than one at a time. A vassal is a servant who is given control, usually with land attatched, on some asset of a lord. A lord is someone who has assets and servants. A knight was a trained man on horseback responsible for fighting whenever his lord wanted. Merchants sell things, just like today.

So you can see that a man may be made a knight (Sir Phil). He does some good deed (rescues princess), and the king gives him a spare castle over on the border. So the knight is a vassal, because he has to report to the king. He's a lord because the castle he's given comes with, say, 5000 acres of farmland that the serfs (who are always JUST serfs, I'll explain later) farm.

Now because Sir Phil has a castle and all this land, the king decides that Sir Phil needs to protect the king's land on that side: so now it's Sir Phil's job to make sure all the crazy barbarians don't come rushing through his land and kidnap the princess again. Also, because Sir Phil is now so important, the king promotes him to Baron. So now he's Baron Phil, protector of the eastern flank. But he's still supposed to go help the king, if the king needs it (say on the western front: just because he's got a castle doesn't mean the king can't say "you're still a knight even if I made you baron so get over here and fight these people"). Also, the king needs money, and he's been so nice to Phil afterall, and he decides that Phil owes him, so he starts taxing Phil.

So now Lord Phil, the knight vassal of the king, is running all around his own land keeping track of things, killing off the princess-stealing barbarians, saving the king whenever he calls, and paying taxes. All these horses and such are getting expensive, too. So Phil says to himself, "you know, I've got the best cows in all the country. They are scrawny and don't make milk, but they make amazing leather. I should sell this leather to pay the taxes and the armorsmith." So Lord Phil hires Jimbob, the local scholar who can read (rare) but is too stupid to be taken by the church. He tells Jimbob to go over to Lord Stupidface and see if Stupidface wants any of their amazing leather. So Jimbob does, and lo and behold, the sell off some of their leather. Lord Phil, the Lord, knight, and vassal, has now become a merchant.

That's how the system worked. But here's some culture: Phil would never admit to being a merchant, because that's not for nobility (like Barons). So he'll be snotty to Jimbob so everyone knows he's better, but he'll also let Jimbob keep some of the money so Jimbob will keep going around selling leather (Because without Jimbob Lord Phil can't pay the king's taxman). So while we would think of Phil as the merchant, he isn't (though, really, would Jimbob be selling leather without Phil?).

After Jimbob makes enough money, he goes out and buys some cows of his own. Phil's mad about this at first, but then he realizes that if Jimbob buys the cows off the farmers, and sells the leather to Lord Stupidface, then Lord Phil's got a lot more time to ride over to the princess and see if she'll let her hair down. So instead of managing the leather and Jimbob, he just sends a flunky over to Jimbob's place once a month to tax Jimbob, just like the king does him. (This is how our modern capitalism evolved).

Lastly, about the serfs: they are really, really poor. Like those poor African children you see living in shacks. But they aren't even allowed to leave the land, because they belong to the land, which belongs to Lord Phil. (If this is starting to sound a lot like slavery, then you're picking it up.) They have no hope of becoming Sir Anybody, and really not even of becoming Leather Merchant Jimbob. They are born, work really really hard for essentially no money, and then die early (like, at 35). Sometimes they get told to fight the barbarians, which means that Lord Phil will just give the picks and axes and tell them to kill the Barbarians.

They don't have any training, so they die really easily. But that's okay for Phil, because the serfs come almost free (they keep getting married and having babies). But eventually Lord Phil might realize that if he lets his serfs have a little more money, they'll buy better food, and then be able to work harder and longer. They may even be a little happy, which means they might stop stealing from him whenever he turns around. So he learns that respect given is (sometimes) returned, and freedom makes its way into serfdom (very slowly). That's how we got where we are today, with some parts of the world enjoying more freedom and better quality of life than the vast majority of history could even comprehend.

Answer 3

Clergy- Members of the Church who performed official duties at different levels. Bishops, priests, friars, monks, are examples of clergy officials.
Common Law- Written laws and legal decisions that became the foundation for future cases or legal decisions.
Feudalism- Political and military system of government based on the granting of land in return for loyalty, military assistance, and services.
Fief- Land given in exchange for a military alliance or other services.
Germanic People- Refers to the barbarian tribes from Northern and Central Europe who had pagan religions, spoke Germanic languages, and shared common ethnic traits.
Jury System- A system where nobles or other members of the community would hear evidence and render a decision of guilt or innocence based on that evidence.
Knight- a mounted warrior who owed allegiance to a lord or king.
Magna Carta- A document which limited the powers of the king.
Manorial System- The basic self-sufficient economic system during the Middle Ages.
Medieval- Comes from the Latin words for "middle ages."
Middle Ages- Generally considered the period between AD 500-1500.
Papacy- The office of the Pope, head of the Roman Catholic Church.

Serfs- People legally tied to the land; farm workers who were almost slaves.
Vassal- A noble who pledged loyalty to a lord in exchange for land.

Answer 4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feudal_society

Good Luck!!!